Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-12-10
s. IN -
A HISTORY OF ADVENTURE
BY Fl. Rider HAGGARD.

older. Feature for feature, they were the
same, even down TO the crop OF little, gold
EN- CUris, which was Leo's most uncom-
mon beauty. 1t even seemed to me, as |
looked, that the expression on the dead
mans face resembled that which | had
sometimes seen upon Ieo's when he was
plunged into profound sleep. | can only
sum up the closeness of the resemblance
by saying that ] never saw twins SO exactly
similar rs that dead and living pair.
| turned to see what effect was produced
upon Leo by this sight Of his dead self, and
found il to be one OF partial stupefaction.
He stood for two or three minutes staring
and said nothing, and when AT last he
spoke it was only to calculate:
Cover il up and take me away
"Nay, wait said yesha, who, standing
with the lamp raised above her head, flood
ing with its light her own rich beauty and
the cold wonder of the deatd clothed form
upon the bier, looked more like an inspired
Sibyl than a woman as she rolled out her
majestic sentences with n grandeur and a
freedom OF utteranca To which | am, alas,
quite unable to do justice.
"Wait; | would show thee something,
that no tittle of my crime may be hidden
from thee. Do thou, oh. Holly, open the
garment on the breast of tho dead Kali
krates. for %perchance my lord may fear to
touch himself
! obeyed with trembling hands. 1t
seemed a decoration and an unhallowed
thing TO touch that sleeping image of the
live man by my side. Presently his broad
chest was bare, and there upon it, right
over the heart, was u wound, evidently in
hictcd with Il spear.
Thou scest, Kallikrates," she said.
Behold, it was ! who slew thee. In the
place OF life | gave thee death. | slew thee
because Of the Egyptian Amenartas, whom
thou diist love; for by her arts she held
thy heart, and her ! could not Stay as but
now / slew the woman, for she was too
strong FOR me. Ia my haste and bitter an
ger / slew thee, and now for all these days
have / lamentcd thee, and waited for thy
coming, And thou hast come, and noae
can ,taal between thee and me, and Of a
truth now for death ! viii give thee life
moi life eternal. tor that none can give, bat
lie and youth That shall endure for thous-
nuds urun thousands of years, ana with 1t
po:np ana power and wealth, anda ! things
that are good and beautiful. such AS have
been So TO Wau before thee nor shall be to
my man who ON after. AID now one
thing more ami thou shalt rest and make
ready for the day Of thy new birth. Thou
seest this body which was thine own. For
all these centuries it hath been my COmfort
and my companion, but now | need 1T no
more, for ! have thy living presence, and
il can bat serve TO stir up memories of that
which | had fain forgot. Let it, there
fore, go back 20 the dust from which kept
Il.
"Behold! | have prepared against tins
happy hour and going TO the other shelf,
or stone ledge, which, she said, had served
her for a bed, she took from il a large Wit
rified double-handled vase, the mout OF
which was tied up with a bladder. This
she looSed, and then, having bent down
II gently kissed the white forehead OF
the dead man. she undid the vase, and
sprinkled the contents carefully over the
IorH, taking, ! observed, the greatest pre-
cautions against any drop Of them touch
ing us or herself, and then poured out what
remained of the liquid upon the chest and
head. Instantly a dense yapOr arose, and
the cave was filed with choking fumes
that prevented Us from seeing anything
while the deadly acid for | presume ii was
some tremendous preparation of that sort}
did its work. From the spot where the
body lay anne II fierce .i2 ;iGg and cracking
sound, which. ceased however, before the
fumes had cleared away. At last they
were all gone, except a little cloud which
still hung over the corpse. In a couple OF
minutes more this, too, had vanished, and,
wonderful as it may seem, ii is IA fact that
on the stone bench that had supported the
mortal remains of the ancient kallikrates
for SO many centuries there was now moth
ing to be seen but a few handfuls Of smok-
ing white powder. The acid had utterly
destroyed the body, and even in places
eaten into the stone. Ayesha stopped
down, and taking a handful of this powder
in her grasp, threw ii into the air, saying
at the same time, il a voice Of calm solem-
nifty:
Dust to dust-the past to the past-the
dead tothe dead! kallikrates is dead, and
is born again.
The ashes floated noiselessly to the rocky
floor, and we stood in awed silence and
watched them fall. too overcome for words.
"Now leave me" she said, land sleep if
ye may. must watch and think, for to-
morrow night we go hence, and the time is
long since | trod the path that we must
follow"
Accordingly we bowed and left her.
As we passed to our own apartment. |
pceped into Jobs sleeping-placc to see how
hc Jared, for he had gone away just before
our interview with the murdered Ustanc,
quite Frustrated by the terrors of the Am
ahagger festivity. He was sleeping sound
ly, good honest fellow that he was, and |
reioiced to think that his nerves, which,
like those OF most uneducated people, We're
far from strong, had been spared the clos
ing scenes of that dreadful day. Then we
entered our own chamber, and here at last
poor Leo, who, ever since he had looked
upon that frozen image OF his living self,
had been in n state not far removed from
stupefacti0n, burst II into q torrent OF
grief. Now that he was no longer in the
presence of the dreaded She, his sense of
the awfuiness Of all that had happened,
and more especially OF the wicked murder
Of Ustane, who was bound to him by ties
so close, broke upon him like a storm, and
dashed him into an agony of remorse and
terror which was painful to witness. He
cursed himself-he cursed the hour when
we had first seen the writing on the sherd,
which was being so mysteriously verified,
and bitterly he cursed his own weakness.
Ayesha he dared not curse; who dared
speak evil Of such "a woman, whose con
seriousness for aught we knew was watch
ing us at this very moment?
n .. - 49,. --.